General description

The doctorate is the third level of a three-level university education. Doctoral students expand the knowledge acquired during their Bachelor's and Master's studies (fast track) and acquire the skills required for the pursuit of scholarly work in informatics and its applications. The program qualifies students for academic professions in the field of teaching and research or for demanding employment in business and industry. The fast track doctorate consists of a doctoral program with at least 20 ECTS credits and a written dissertation. In the doctoral program the minimum ECTS credits required in each category are: 3 ECTS credits in doctoral courses, doctoral seminars, summer schools or doctoral symposia; 2 ECTS credits in research colloquia; 6 ECTS credits in teaching practice; 9 ECTS credits in research practice.

Admission requirements

The conditions for admission to the Doctoral program in Informatics are published at: http://www.oec.uzh.ch/studies/general/admission/phd_en.html

Educational goals

The Doctoral program of the Department of Informatics at the University of Zurich focuses on three fields - Information Systems, Software Systems, and Multimodal and Cognitive Systems. Application areas range from business information systems to social sciences, linguistics, natural sciences, and medicine. The department creates joint research ventures and integrates their results in the teaching of students. In addition, internationally renowned visiting professors regularly give courses on special topics. During their studies at the Master's and Doctoral levels, students deepen their skills and knowledge acquired at the Bachelor's level with respect to scientific work and its application.

ECTS credits

20 ECTS Credits

Degree

Doctor of Science, PhD

Program structure

Students start with Master's courses and earn their Master's degree after three semesters of coursework and a Master's thesis; if permitted, they then go on with their Doctoral course work and their dissertation. The fast-track program may save excellent and ambitious students up to two semesters. One particular advantage is that their Master's thesis may serve as a research proposal if it is of outstanding quality. After their research proposals have been approved, students start working on their dissertation under the supervision of a faculty member. The doctorate is usually completed in three to five years. Please refer to the Doctoral program regulations for more details: http://www.oec.uzh.ch/regulations_en. For a detailed description of the courses offered at the department as well as for a general overview of the program's structure, consult the website of the Department of Informatics: http://www.ifi.uzh.ch/teaching/studiengaenge/phd/programs/bachelor.html

Language of instruction

German, English